the way that it hurts
by UnderThePureMoon
Summary: the ballad of two big sisters. — severa, lucina.


**i feel like this is immensely out of character. sorry if it is, it's my first time writing for any of these guys, and i promise to write better fe:a fics in the future lol. but yeah severa is m!robin's daughter while lucina is olivia's daughter, mainly because i needed inigo to be her brother for this story, since it just fit so well. this story is also very bipolar, fyi.**

**i just love the dynamic between lucina getting with the kid of robin. it's like "hey, yeah, my dad killed your dad but let's make out!" so here you go. i tried.**

**that being said, i am in love with m!robin as severa's father, like, you have no idea. expect more fics in the future if i ever get any better. until then, please enjoy. if i owned anything, i wouldn't be total trash at writing these characters lmao.**

* * *

><p><strong>the way that it hurts<strong>

**(when every single word that you spoke to me meant more than you'll ever know.)**

Severa's silver hair weighs her down like lead in water. It's a memento of her father, the only thing he left her with, save for memories that seem so far away, and books and tomes that pile high - which aren't her thing, but are right up Morgan's alley (_of course_, Severa notes bitterly).

Unfortunately for her, the memories don't hurt any less despite her intense jealousy of anyone and anything that got more attention from her father that wasn't her. It's silly to be jealous of books, perhaps, but not the little red headed girl that did the same things Severa did - love and idolize her father.

Her sighs grow more hollow and placid each day, becoming a normal thing. Her mother's not there to notice, nor her father, but her little darling sister is.

"Something on your mind, Severa?" she asks, tugging on Severa's hand.

And Severa wants to cry because how can she be a big sister to the one thing her parents left her with when she's too jealous to do just what she promised she would?

She can't.

She's not sure when she starts crying or when her arms wrap around Morgan, or when Morgan starts comforting her the way her mother and father used to. She's not really sure who the big sister in this scenario is anymore.

(No, she's not perfect, not like the rest of her family or the leader of the rag tag group of orphans that can do nothing but fight for their home, and it weighs on her shoulders in the form of her hair, the only piece of her that truly is her father's.)

.

.

Lucina is different, or so Severa tries to tell herself time and time again. But somewhere in her heart, she knows that Lucina isn't any different. Lucina is just like Morgan in the regard that she's the perfect daughter - the one her parents envisioned, the one Severa's not, and the child that Lucina's little brother isn't.

So maybe Severa should be talking to Inigo, because really, he would understand her better, worrying that he won't ever be anything like his father, but then again, he wouldn't. Because unlike Severa, he doesn't have to be an older sister, doesn't have to play mom, and he doesn't have _both _of his parents' reputation on his shoulders.

("Might as well," he says one time, to her face, and when Severa says nothing back, they wallow in jealousy and hatred until Risen are attacking again.)

He tries to understand because they both think he'll understand better, but in the end Severa talks to Lucina because Lucina understands more than anybody in the whole world. She may be strong, fierce, brave and drop dead gorgeous, but Lucina takes Severa's hand in hers and compliments her.

"You shine brighter than anyone I've ever known, Severa."

Severa doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, though if she cried, she'd wake up Morgan, so she strokes her sleeping sister's hair and promises to keep on shining if that's what Lucina thinks she's doing.

.

.

But Lucina is jealous, too, jealous of the way that Severa keeps on shining, even when Lucina feels like her own light is dimming.

It's silly, really, she tells Inigo, and Inigo sighs, pulling his sister closer to him.

Don't think like that, he tells her, and all she can do is say okay, I'll try not to and lean into her brother's embrace.

(At times like these, she realizes her baby is brother isn't much of a baby anymore.)

.

.

Going back to the past is a punch in the gut. Severa loses her hold on Morgan and she worries the nights away at Nelson's stupid fortress. She was supposed to hold onto her little sister and she let her go and now she can't find her and she can feel herself growing anxious with each night she spends locking herself away into both Nelson's fortress and herself.

And then her parents and Chrom come barging in to help her. Seeing her mother bubbles up this enormous amount of anger she only recently gained in the past few years, and seeing her father makes her sad because even if they haven't had Morgan left, he'll be very disappointed in her for losing her little sister.

(She doesn't like disappointing her father very much.)

She joins with them anyway, figuring she'll tell them about their other daughter later. All the anger she had just bubbles away and Severa finds herself falling apart in their arms, just telling them that she missed them more than anything and please, please don't leave her alone again.

The issue of Morgan is still building bridges in her mind and her heart, but in some corner of their camp, Lucina is running up to her and there's a stupidly huge smile on the beautiful princess' face.

"What is it?"

"We found Morgan!" Lucina says, smiling even brighter. If the princess hadn't been there, Severa would have collapsed completely. But Lucina caught her and Severa hates that there are tears falling, but she's so _relieved_, dammit!

Lucina is soothing her oh so gently, "It's okay now, Severa," and even though they both know it won't be '_okay_' until the war is over and the fell dragon killed, Severa finds herself letting the feeling of things being _okay_ into her heart.

(And the princess is wiping away her tears and she's all gentle touches and gentle, dazzling smiles and Severa's heart is beating so fast, though if it's because of the princess or the pressing matter of her sisters' return and her parents grilling her due to her not telling them about Morgan, she doesn't know.)

.

.

Everything is crushed upon the reveal of Morgan's amnesia. She may have found her and Morgan may be safe, but Severa still _failed_. Cordelia and Robin both ask about why she didn't tell them about Morgan, though at separate times and when she tells them why, pulling her into their arms and telling her it's okay now.

She's brushing her hair when her sister walks in, and realizing that Morgan thinks Severa is a stranger, not her sister, she decides not to make a joke about an old memory before the apocalypse in their future, and simply sits there.

"Your hair is really pretty, Severa."

If it is, Severa doesn't think so, because it's one of the things that weights her down and lets her know how imperfect she is, especially since she knows as well as Lucina that Robin is a murderer, no matter if it was against his will or not.

"You look so much like him, you know?"

Severa tilts her head, "Who?"

"Dad, of course! There's just an uncanny resemblance between you two! Don't you see it?"

No, no she doesn't, which is why she feels like crying (she already is) as she grabs her sister and holds her tight. Maybe she was jealous sometimes, but she was still in the process of keeping her sister safe.

"Why are you crying?"

"I just missed you, you big idiot!"

From the outside of the tent, Lucina smiles at their exchange and dismisses herself, leaving them alone. She did hear her brother muttering angrily about something, and figures she might as well try to take care of that.

.

.

But Lucina can't fix it, even when her brother tells her she did, and so she goes to Severa, who only smiles at her.

"We're awful big sisters, huh?" the silver haired girl asks, a semblance of a sad smirk on her face, and Lucina chuckles bitterly.

"I suppose so," she replies, and squeezes Severa's hand tighter.

.

.

Severa feels bad for unloading all of her inferiority complex issues on Lucina, but the princess does nothing save for pull Severa closer to her and run her fingers through Severa's shiny silver hair.

The inferiority complex is her ball and chain, and when she sees her hair she is reminded of her father each time and how she can't be like him, nor can she be like her annoyingly perfect mother or even her little sister who's just so perfect because she takes after their father and could probably take after their mother, too, if she really wanted to.

"I've told you not to worry about that. You're your own person, and I wouldn't want you to be anyone else."

Severa doesn't cry, for she has no tears left since she's cried so much the past few days, but she certainly wants to whenever Lucina compliments her like that. Because besides her parents, who place so much faith in her, despite how inadequate they must know she really, truly is, that it scares her, no one ever compliments her. At least not as truly and deeply as Lucina does.

Lucina is the only one who knows about these problems, after all.

"Since we've always shared secrets I'll tell you one of mine."

Lucina drags her fingers through Severa's hair gently and slowly, but stares at it as if she wants to burn it.

"I figured out who killed my father."

Like she vowed to do.

"...Robin. It was Robin."

.

.

(And Severa's eyes widen and she stares at Lucina with livid eyes that still manage to look sadder than they've ever looked, and she's a wreck, tears falling fast as she covers her eyes and shrieks "_Don't! Please don't kill my daddy! I love him so much, and he doesn't deserve it!_" but all Lucina can do is offer an apologetic glance as she walks away.

Later, when she tells Inigo, he doesn't understand her like she'd hoped.

"You can't expect to save our father by robbing Severa and Morgan of theirs!"

"Please try to understand," Lucina coos, touching his arm gently.

"_No_! Hasn't Severa cried enough for a lifetime?"

That punches Lucina right in the gut, as does the sound of Severa's distant sobbing. Inigo gives her a look and shakes his head, because she knows he had always believed she wouldn't do something like this.

And Lucina believed it, too.)

.

.

"I'm sorry," Lucina begins, and ends. She can't really figure out what to say, especially when Severa is glaring at her the way she glares at her mother when she's jealous.

But Severa sighs, "Fine, okay? I forgive you. I guess... if someone killed my father, I'd be pretty upset, too."

Severa's forgiveness makes her feel better, because if she hadn't forgave her, Lucina was sure she would have ripped herself to pieces trying to figure out a way to make the tactician's daughter forgive her.

.

.

"Do you love my sister, Lucina?"

Lucina's eyes widen at that question, her response spluttering out of her mouth. "I-! Where would you ever get an idea like that?"

Morgan rolls her eyes, "Because I'm not an idiot, and she gets so much happier after you make her feel better in your 'girl talks' or whatever. Don't think I haven't noticed how you guys stare at each other, either."

Lucina blushes a bright red color, and Morgan laughs as she gets up and runs down the hills, shouting: "Hey, Inigo! You lost the bet, buddy!"

Meddling siblings, they are, but it brings a smile to the princess' face. It's hard to be mad at them when they would never be acting like this in their own time period, no matter if Morgan remembers or not.

.

.

"Did you two kiss yet, sis?" Inigo asks, and Lucina can feel anger boiling up within her.

"_That _is none of _your _business!" is what she shouts, but Inigo just starts laughing at her. On any other day, she would have felt happier in the presence of her little brother's laughter (because it was a happy sound that instantly made her happier, and she hadn't heard it in a while), but now was not the time.

Things have been awkward since the whole ordeal with Lucina basically trying to kill Robin, whom Severa was attached greatly to.

Inigo is staring at her with his hand on his chin, and he frowns, because he can tell something is wrong with his sister's sad glance.

.

.

It's the clumsiest thing that Lucina's ever done, for sure. Severa's not bad, at all, but Lucina struggles to make it not awkward.

It's chaste, but it's soft and sweet and then they're just staring at each other blankly, but smiling nonetheless.

(This time, Inigo is the one shouting: "Hey, Morgan! I win!")


End file.
